My grandfather served in the Army in World War I. My father served in the Navy during World War II. He received the Purple Heart for shrapnel injuries he sustained when his ship was sunk during the invasion of the Philippines.
I have two brothers, one who served in the Navy during the Vietnam conflict. He was stationed on an aircraft carrier that flew missions over Vietnam.
My other brother served in the Army as a translator during the Vietnam conflict. I served in the Navy as a hospital corpsman from 1973-1977, and after attending nursing school served as an RN in the Air Force, from 1989-1992, making the rank of captain. Two of my sons have also served. The oldest served in the Army as an intelligence analyst and was stationed in Iraq during the Gulf War and earned his combat action badge. My other son has served in the Iowa National Guard since he was 17. He is currently a Black Hawk helicopter pilot serving a deployment to the Middle East. So we have four generations of my family who have served. I could not be more proud of this heritage of service to this beloved country.